Why invest in your library?

    St. Thomas Public Library is so much more than a place to find a good book! Connection is at the core of everything we do. With donors like you, we work to make sure that your library continues to be an essential part of both this city’s solid foundation and its limitless future. We believe our community deserves an excellent library!

    Give today to fund programs and spaces for babies, school-age children, teens, and adults. Help us create a safe and healthy space for your community. With your donations, we’re able to connect people with the most-needed programs, books, and technology. We need you!

    Any amount helps. Give online or in person, and please consider becoming a monthly donor. You can also make a donation in honour of a loved one! Your donation is an investment in your community.

    Our Charitable Registration # is 12948-5967-RR0001.

    Donate online

    Online donations to the St. Thomas Public Library are handled through the donation software eTapestry. All transactions are secure and your personal information will remain confidential. We accept Visa and Mastercard online. Donate today!

    Donate in-person

    Our staff are pleased to accept your donations in-person. We accept cash, personal cheques, debit, and Visa card donations.

    Donate by mail

    If you would prefer to mail your donation, please print out this form.  Please do not send cash in the mail.

    Your form and payment can be mailed to:

    Heather Robinson
    Chief Librarian / CEO
    153 Curtis St.
    St. Thomas, ON, N5P 3Z7

    All questions and comments can be sent to Heather Robinson, CEO, by calling 519-631-6050 ext. 8027, or emailing hrobinson@stthomaspubliclibrary.ca

    Library Champions

    Public funding supports libraries, but often it is private gifts that make them flourish.

    A donation in your name to St. Thomas Public Library will benefit the library forever. When planning your community bequests please consider making a lasting gift to your Library as part of your legacy. St. Thomas Public Library deeply appreciates the community commitment shown through by our Library Champions.

    St. Thomas Public Library recognizes our Library Champions:

    George Thorman Room

    George Thorman was a well-loved Elgin educator, historian and author. He taught for many years at St.Thomas Collegiate Institute, and later taught and became principal at Parkside Collegiate. He was a founding member of the Elgin Military Museum, and past resident of the Elgin Historical Society. But library staff remember him for the many hours he spent in the library’s local history room, doing research, chatting with customers, and answering questions from public and staff alike. The upper level Local History area was renamed the George Thorman Room in 1989, and rededicated on the 20th anniversary in 2009.

    Carolyn Kneeshaw Board Room

    Carolyn Kneeshaw was Chief Librarian from 1980 to 2006. Carolyn actually started at the library as Head of the Adult Services Department in 1969. After taking time off to raise her children, she returned to the library as CEO in 1980. After she passed away in 2014, the Library Board renamed the Board room in honour of Carolyn Kneeshaw, in recognition of her long time dedication to St. Thomas Public Library and her contributions to the community.

    Palmer Youth Library

    In 2010, the Library Board received a donation of $300,000 from Dorothy Palmer for the development of the John & Dorothy Palmer Youth Library. As you visit the Children’s and Teens’ area, you’ll see many special attractions and unique features that were made possible with the help of this generous donation. Dorothy and her husband John never had children of their own, but they recognized the impact that a library can make in the lives of children. Our customers still benefit from that generous legacy.

    Fred and Ethel Ingram Activity Centre for Children

    In making her donation for the Palmer Youth Library, Dorothy Palmer requested that a room or space be set aside for children’s programming and be named after her parents, Fred and Ethel Ingram.

    Don and Shirley McNabb

    Prior to his retirement, Donald McNabb was a Geography teacher at Central Elgin Collegiate in St. Thomas. Don held a pilot’s licence and he and his wife Shirley were recurrent travelers. Don’s fascination with the world and its people was expressed in his interest in his students. He arranged for his students to experience a flight in an airplane (the first time that many had flown) over the immediate vicinity. A report about settlement and traffic patterns, land use, glacial features etc. was expected. This gave his students a practical application of Geography and a sense of St. Thomas in the “big picture.” It was a view from a different perspective.

    After his retirement, Don and Shirley were weekly and welcome visitors to the St. Thomas Public Library. They continued their involvement with the world and their community with a donation to the St. Thomas Public Library. In his later years, Don was a great user of the large print collection, and he left a generous donation in support of large print and audio visual materials. Customers benefit from their gift daily.

    George Robert Rinn

    Harris Lionel Rinn, a teacher a Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario, died on September 10, 1954. In his will, he provided a legacy in memory of his father, George Robert Rinn. Rinn had been a well-known grocer and butcher in St. Thomas. The legacy provided $10,000 to St. Thomas Public Library, to be used for the purpose of purchasing materials on the Arts. The Library Board invested the money, and has used interest from the investment to purchase materials. The Rinn Trust has proven to be an important source of cultural information for the citizens of St. Thomas. The Trust will continue to contribute to the community!

    Mary Ann Neely

    Beloved by many St. Thomas residents, Mary Ann Neely was a passionate and creative high-school English teacher at Alma College and Parkside Collegiate Institute.

    Mary Ann was born in Buffalo, New York, before settling in St. Thomas with her family. An avid reader all her life, Mary Ann enjoyed her many years of St. Thomas Public Library membership. Each year following her retirement, she had the opportunity to choose books and lead the discussion at one of the monthly Library Book Club meetings.

    The estate of Mary Ann Neely has donated $1,000,000 to St. Thomas Public Library for building enhancements and library materials. Library Board Chair Greg Grondin said of Mary Ann, “They say “a life well lived is a gift to the future,” and this is her legacy: Mary Ann Neely lives on in the legacy that she leaves St. Thomas Public Library and the community.”

    Friends of St. Thomas Public Library

    Friends of St. Thomas Public Library are volunteers who help raise funds for the library and promote the library as a cultural institution in the community. They began in 1994, and have so far donated over $200,000 to St. Thomas Public Library.

    Creators' Corner

    In addition to many other projects at the library, the Dorothy Palmer Estate donated additional funds which allowed St. Thomas Public Library to develop Creators’ Corner; a space in the library dedicated to creativity, design, and innovation